Elfen Liner Notes: Mission Review
by Gojirob
Summary: The Agent who captured Lucy reviews the events surrounding the Battle Of Maple House for her superiors, and how it was mishandled from before the word go. Can her heritage be her strength as she faces down fanaticism and petty one-upmanship?


Elfen Liner Notes: Mission Assessment

By Rob Morris

_**1**_

The Agent's superior nodded at her to sit down. The man had made himself acquainted with her record, but this was in fact the first time they had met.

"Your name is really Elena Oahu?"

She shook her head.

"My Mom took that surname when her adoptive yuppie parents cut her loose in Hawaii. Out of a common agreement with my father, I don't use his name, for the baggage it carries, good and bad."

The superior felt he had to ask.

"What is your father's name?"

The Agent had to suppress a smile when the superior shuddered in response.

"Jouji Bando."

To his credit, the older man regained himself quickly.

"I…see. Yes, baggage indeed. Thank you, Agent. Now, in the frenzy of recent events, there must be a review. I think that your own actions are above board, but so much confusion abounds and so few who were there are still alive to recount it all. Fewer still were in so many of the pivotal spots of this misadventure as you happened to be. Where do you wish to start?"

The Agent thought back.

"I was supposedly an SAT washout who cried sexism. Well, the latter was true, the former, not so much. My skills plus my size had Chief Kakuzawa hiring me, at first just to capture and kill any escaping Diclonius. Killing little girls is not my thing, but any who got out were desperate, and any one of them could infect hundreds of guys before we found them—not that it matters anymore. I showed my skill set, my ability to restrict collateral damage, and my ability to keep my mouth shut. It was then that I was assigned to Doctor Kan Nousou. A great genius—and an even greater twit."

_2_

As their prep team cleared the perimeter around Maple House, the Agent showed her doubts.

"From what I've read, cornering or surprising Lucy is a good way to ensure that blood flows quickly. I personally suggest that we make it clear that she is surrounded. The only concern she's ever shown for Human life is those she knows personally. Her original surrender came as a result of her concern for a girl named Aiko Takada."

Nousou was almost drooling at the site of all the firepower they had on call.

"Eh? No way. Forewarned is forearmed, and this is Lucy we're talking about. There was exactly one Diclonius more powerful than her, and Lucy cut her up before the embedded bombs blew. That is why-"

He pointed to the clones, Alicia, Barbara and Cynthia, masked and in light armor.

"-we have three of her, under tight control. All the power, none of the baggage of dear Saito's manipulations. Small arms, heavy arms, and invisible arms. Lucy is going down."

The Agent still expressed doubts.

"Wasn't there a Diclonius, one known for her natural self-restraint, who actually survived a battle with Lucy? Maybe we should seek her out. There's very few who can brag about that kind of miracle."

Nousou took out his candy-stick and spit on the ground before replacing it.

"Number Freaking Seven. Kurama's pet. His grand experiment in utter uselessness. If we so much as see a purple hair on her dainty little head, then we take that head off. Chief's orders, and my pleasure."

Before the Agent could respond, Nousou snorted and kept on.

"Kurama-San wouldn't have done it that way! Kurama-San treated us with respect! Kurama-San valued those he worked with! Even the Chief – _'Despite his ultimate disloyalty, he ran a tight ship. This is always to be admired.'_ All I ever saw was an ethically hidebound, preachy loser, and this is the night I prove it."

The Agent kept her opinion of this pettiness private. Instead, she concentrated on tactical matters.

"Buzzing the house with tear gas will keep anyone aiding her from joining the fight, and at least weaken Lucy a bit. With her, the advantage of surprise is hardly an insuperable one."

She didn't bother to elucidate on this. Many tactics that Lucy didn't know about in advance she often quickly adapted to and turned to her advantage. This was hard fact from every single report about her. But again, Nousou was disallowing both expertise and facts.

"So she can't just blow the gas away? Besides, you said she's concerned with those few who can stand her. Overwhelming show of force against those dupes, bet she falls like a house of cards."

As a rule, the Agent didn't like being dismissed, and she didn't care much for betting analogies.

"Yeah—and all those cards are the Ace of Spades. Spades are used for digging graves, you know."

Nousou now actually seemed annoyed.

"We use your way, my girls might never have their chance to shine."

_**3**_

REVIEW SESSION

The officer shook his head. His actual listed rank was lower than one might suppose, for all those he was able to order, and very quickly at that, but this was a mask he had no problem with. Those that did know him, snapped to faster than their junior officers could account for.

"Placing any civilian in charge of an operation is dicey, barring those known to belong there. But one with so very many quirks? I realize Kakuzawa was insane in the broadest sense. But in localized strategy, usually he showed near-brilliance. Not here, though."

The Agent nodded.

"Well, his real brilliance tended to be in manipulating anyone too proud to believe that they could be manipulated. Nousou offered platitudes and assurances on the effectiveness of his clones. The Chief called him on it. He also probably figured the mission had enough people who knew how to do their jobs that he didn't matter. That one is also debatable."

The officer read the next part of the report.

"At least debatable."

_**4**_

A delivery messenger had been quietly turned away. Nousou read the contents of the envelope.

"It says someone named Nozomi Watanabe has been accepted into a music school. It could be code."

Agent Oahu looked it over.

"Last I checked Diclonius didn't spread the virus via recitals. Heh. Maybe this is secretly a Death Metal band? I can see Lucy heading one of those up, in another life."

Nousou was not laughing.

"Well, it does mean that they're expecting this, and that gives us noise cover. They won't be paying attention if they hear something from outside."

Since that was the first sensible thing the man had said, Oahu offered up no rejoinder.

"Have your girls take the doors down. The men should move in after."

Nousou now looked about him nervously.

"Wait—have we checked for surveillance? Booby-traps?"

"Are you kidding? Of course we checked if they have cameras. They have a landline phone and a TV aerial antenna on the roof. That's it."

Nousou still wasn't convinced.

"What about traps?"

Oahu rolled her eyes.

"We're facing a walking WMD. What could anything like that be compared to her?"

Nousou nodded, spoke to the clones, and in a heartbeat, the doors were splintered, and the people inside were screaming.

"No sudden moves, alright? We only want to know where Lucy is…"

A young man leapt at Nousou and grabbed him, shouting in his face.

"Who are you and what do you want barging in here like this?"

Oahu immediately sensed the wrongness of what was going on. Nobody had made any attempt to run to another room, or go under the table, or reach for any bags. If this was a terror cell, it was poorly trained and equipped.

But her duty was clear, and she gun-butted the young man to get him off of Nousou.

"Next time I will shoot you. Make book on that."

_**5**_

REVIEW

The superior read a name.

"Kouta Kanbe. Eh. That name again—and again."

Oahu nodded.

"Now, I know that. I actually shudder when I realize how this whole thing practically pivots on him. But asshat though he was, I had to protect Nousou to make him turn and give us insight into the Chief's plans on a scientific level. The kid? To me at that point, he was entirely expendable. Just not to Lucy—or any of the other young ladies there. We were looking for an Aum Shinrikyo-type cult dedicated to Lucy, and we end up in some sort of bloody deconstruction of a harem manga."

The superior winced openly.

"When you put it like that, it just sounds silly."

_**6**_

One by one, they rose in concern for their young man, and one by one, the soldiers pushed and shouted them down. Agent Oahu saw potential sources of information possibly being silenced forever.

"Stop rolling so heavy, unless they show active resistance!"

Perhaps his brush with Kouta had shaken or emboldened Nousou; in any event, he began acting more like a braying ass than before.

"Belay that! Ooh-I said Belay-just like Captain Kirk. Anyway—continue to punish any movement, and stop that damn caterwauling!"

At this order, one girl was placed in a chokehold from behind, and another who tried to aid her was again pushed down. Nousou smiled, and again made his demand.

"Now tell us where Lucy is!"

The Agent saw someone cowering in the corner, but their hands were in the wrong position to be hiding anything.

"Please-don't hurt us. We'll give you anything you want!"

The cowering girl had tears streaming down her face—and pink hair. Atop her head, sprouting out were the remnants of some kind of cartilage, now mostly removed. Her face when she looked out from behind her hands said the rest.

"Kouta? Is Kouta all right? Please. I would die if anything happened to him."

Nousou turned and sneered.

"You all should have thought of that before you took in a monster like Lucy, Pinkie-Pie!"

Oahu waited for the pink-hair to attack, and she didn't. She waited for the arrogant scientist to use the two eyes creation had given him, and he did not. More confused than ever, the Agent tapped Nousou on the shoulder.

"She has pink hair."

Nousou nodded.

"Your point?"

"She has—some sort of cartilage atop her head, almost parallel with her ears."

Nousou showed why he was not in Special Forces.

"So she had a bad dye job, and it made her bald in spots. Probably irritated her scalp into bumps."

If the loyalty of the soldiers were not in question, Oahu would have sprung the surprise in its entirety, then and there.

"Please give me a physical description—of Lucy."

Thankfully, Nousou was not so much of an idiot as to lapse into cartoon antics—any further than he already had. His eyes went wide, and he pointed at the girl, his hand shaking.

"Alicia! Barbara! Cynthia! ATTACK LUCY!"

The girl was lifted against the wall and held fast. Nousou fist-pumped.

"Yes! We got her!"

Oahu shook her head.

"How is it we have her? This is Lucy, apt to kill, and with a vector range we're certainly within."

The young man from before looked up from the floor and cried out.

"NYU! NYU!"

Nousou kicked the young man and looked furious.

"Don't use that kind of ecchi language in front of my girls! Sheesh—a terrorist and a lowlife."

Oahu saw the terrified girl on the wall suddenly glare before confusion overtook her once more. The glare was a grim one, and for her, it erased any doubt as to who they were dealing with. Nousou was not so convinced.

"She's faking! If we threaten the others, that'll end this charade."

Before Agent Oahu could point out even one of the infinite number of things wrong with that logic, a figure emerged, landing between the soldiers, clones, operatives and the residents of the besieged home.

"Nana says that none of you will be allowed to hurt my family anymore! Nana does not wish to hurt you, but if you won't stop, Nana will go all Turtle Wave on your buttocks!"

_**7**_

REVIEW

"Ummm-all 'Turtle Wave'?"

Oahu shook her head.

"Apparently, since she left the Institute, Number Seven has become a devotee of Akira Toriyama. Except for GT."

The officer nodded.

"I should hope not. Building a new android in Hell? Not that I watch-Umm-So just how many Diclonius were living in this one home?"

Oahu struggled for an answer.

"That's one of the places where this gets really weird."

The superior winced.

"Weird, you say?"

_**8 **_

Nousou was not at all impressed by the new entrant.

"Number Seven-the born loser who fails at even the simplest tasks."

Oahu whispered under her breath.

"Taunting the home team revs them up, you moron."

Nana shifted to a fighting stance.

"Nana doesn't like you, either, Lady!"

Nousou's face turned volcano red. He pointed with his fist.

"I AM A MAN!"

Nana shook her head.

"But you have such pretty hair. Are you sure?"

Nousou was near to hyperventilating

"GIRLS-take the bitch down!"

The oldest of the ladies there, one with chestnut-brown hair, began to be pummeled by the clones. Nana stared over.

"Why are they attacking Yuka-San?"

Nousou shook his head.

"I-really don't know why. Girls-Hit Number Seven!"

The clones began to look around the room, until an exasperated Nousou pointed directly at Nana.

"Her! HER! HER! That idiot Kurama's cuddle-toy! OWWWW!"

Nana refastened her right arm and glared at Nousou.

"DO NOT MOCK PAPA."

Nousou looked at the Agent.

"She hit me!"

Oahu nodded.

"With an Astro Boy move, no less."

Nana grinned.

"Nana has been working on a Kamen Rider kick, too."

The Agent sighed, and raising a finger in the air, pointed at the clones, getting their attention before whirling said finger at Nana, who began to dodge their attacks. Nousou stared dejectedly.

"Huh?"

Oahu shrugged.

"In their controlled state, words don't mean a whole hell of a lot."

Nana almost seemed to float around the attacks, which left Nousou enraged.

"Vectors—can be dodged?"

Nana's next words would hit the Agent hard.

"Mister Bando showed me that this was possible—just before Lucy-San killed him."

_**9**_

REVIEW

The superior tried to put the best face on it.

"The technology recovered from the corpse of the unfortunate tortured Diclonius # 28 has proven promising in our efforts to keep him alive. But at the time, you knew none of this."

The Agent made a slicing motion with her hand.

"He taught me about the mission, and I had just learned that he had let something other than the mission guide him until the end. He would have ripped my head off for allowing that, so the best way to honor him was to be better than he was. Do what he said, not what he did. Still a hell of a thing to learn your father was likely dead from an at best tertiary target. But like I said, mission at hand. Plus, someone was about to kick the dog."

The superior felt and almost tasted the euphemism.

"That's never good."

_**10**_

Nousou was the picture of calm-in the Bizarro World, perhaps.

"ALICIA! BARBARA! Get off your little asses and take Number Seven apart!"

While Nana was helped up by the other young girl, Mayu, the next attack could not be avoided. Nana fell back and seemed to shatter like a doll, all four limbs flying off. Only the lack of blood from this horrific event kept the remaining residents from completely losing their minds. The brown-haired young woman shook her head.

"Nana-chan's limbs are artificial?"

The next moments were all of a frenzy. Nousou, now emboldened by the supposed conclusion of his petty feud with Kurama, held Nana up by the hair on the back of her head, displayed like a trophy. She looked like a doll savaged by a bratty kid several months after Christmas.

"Tell me, useless-will Papa mind if I harvest you for a spare spinal cord-assuming he even cares?"

The other young girl and the young woman were batted back and held down when they screamed in protest. A young woman in-between them in age was again assaulted by a chokehold, this time with greater force, and with no let-up. The brown-haired girl screamed her protest.

"For pity's sake, she's an opera student! Her voice is golden! She's going to music school!"

Something clicked for the Agent as the young woman - Yuka - was slammed down yet again. The letter had been no coded signal. At least some of these people were legit. Lucy herself was still held fast by the clone called Cynthia, and there was no way she should have been for so long. She spoke beneath her breath.

"Got to stop this before it gets any..."

Then it got _any._

The small dog of the household bit at the hand of a soldier, so hard it penetrated his protective glove. The dog was slapped back, which broke the virtual stupor the young man from earlier had fallen into from shock and helplessness.

"WAN-TA!"

He suddenly moved with a clarity and grace no one who knew him would have even assigned to the young man. Well-meaning but clueless vanished in a spray of blood from a younger sister's spinal cord. Kouta Kanbe was tired of being a bystander in his own life, even if a regretful God had somehow made him that way.

"YOU-HAVE-TO-STOP!

He grabbed a gun off a soldier knocked down in the melee, and arced his way with ludicrous speed to Nousou, who he shoved down as the gun went straight to his head - safety off, because the soldier had never placed it on.

"Call them off! DO IT NOW!"

The Agent pulled back, looking for a clean shot. Nousou had to live. The kid not so much. Nousou perhaps knew this, or perhaps he was just that stupid, for he pulled a movie moment he rightfully should not have survived. Nousou smirked at Kouta.

"Think you have the guts to do that, boy? Up close and personal like this? Get my grey matter and blood all over your nice schoolboy shirt?"

The Agent gave a mental review of her own.

_*The Godfather? Really?* _

At first, the borrowed words of bravado surprisingly seemed to do the trick. Kouta pulled the gun away from Nousou's head.

"You're right. I don't have what it takes to kill you..."

But just as suddenly, to use the Agent's broad analogy, he shifted from Fredo to Michael Corleone in a heartbeat. The gun, for its part, was shifted to next to Nousou's mouth.

"But you can live if all I do is blow your jaw off, right? During the French Revolution, Robespierre tried to avoid the guillotine by shooting himself-except he shot himself in the jaw and lived in agony for a long time. I'll bet nowadays, you could survive for the rest of your lif..."

The Agent took her shot, aiming for the shoulder, hoping not to hit the lung. Because a cornered terrorist would have simply gone down shooting, or tried to kill his comrades to silence them. This was a concerned big brother, perhaps even a Papa, and as such, she had no doubt he would carry out his threat.

_**11**_

REVIEW

"Well, that solved my problem of losing Nousou's testimony. I'd even left the kid room to survive in case we needed his. But you could hear every woman in the place gasp. They may not have been his harem, but they reacted like one. But even in the worst harem manga, there is that one girl who is more devoted than all the others combined."

The superior again sensed the answer.

"That would be Lucy?"

The Agent shook her head.

"Lucy wasn't there yet. Her alternate personality was a gentle girl named Nyu. Nyu had no vectors to threaten us with. Until I shot the one she loved best of all. All bets were off - and the horns were back, bigger than ever - they didn't look like shells or cat-ears, anymore."

_**12**_

The clones were scattered like leaves, with one being ripped in two. Bleeding on the ground, Kouta managed to see this, and said a word the Agent would only place later.

_"Kanae."_

The soldiers seemed to change into bloodstorms, painting the walls, ceilings and floor. Nousou lost all traces of arrogance, and gained all signs of panic.

"Cynthia? My God-RETREAT! Attack Choppers! MOVE IN FULL FORCE!"

The Agent saw the now-active Diclonius pause to speak with Kouta and the ladies. There were tears streaming from her eyes, not a trait reports associated with Lucy. But she still had a job to do, and so grabbed the bisected Cynthia, whose pain threshold enabled her to continue living past the shock of her fatal injuries-for a time.

"Nousou, where are you?"

The scientist's trembling voice belied his attempt at bravado.

"I withdrew to a strategic position. I needed to protect Alicia and Barbara till we can figure something out."

The Agent observed the helicopter gunships being downed right and left by Lucy's (and it was Lucy now) enhanced power. Even with their 'arrangement' with local and provincial authorities, this was going to require a lot of house-to-house reminders about keeping quiet.

"Yeah, good luck with that figuring things out part."

There was even less to figure out as Lucy sent one of the choppers careening down on Nousou and his clones. When the two girls found the strength to keep the copter off of the three of them, Lucy merely smiled as she used gunfire and stray bits of stoneware to tear Alicia apart, piece by piece. Nousou's screams, oddly enough, were not for himself. Somehow, in the mix of all his off-putting behavior, he had come to care about the girls.

"NO! PLEASE DON'T! Barbara! I order you to abandon me..."

Yet the copter came down all the same. From her remove, the Agent could not make out words Lucy said to Nousou, though she was certain they weren't kind. The next words Lucy said she made out just fine.

"Yuka-San? You will care for Kouta, while I try and get him an ambulance. Nana-chan? Please take care of our family. You owe me nothing but pain, but I will still beg you to do this."

The response was again not that of a terrorist.

"Nana will do this, and would have, even if Lucy-San had not asked her to."

Lucy stepped forward, but either surety of her power or exhaustion or both meant she didn't sense the dying Cynthia in time. At the Agent's behest, Cynthia managed to take out one of Lucy's horns, effectively breaking her power, and knocking the haughty Diclonius Queen to the ground.

"Yeah, bitch-these girls have endurance to pain even you can't imagine. They said to deliver you to the island alive-they didn't say fully intact, though."

Yet another new phase of the fiasco emerged when Cynthia was fairly ripped from her arms. A wild, unkempt-looking man was holding the bisected child.

"Mariko-you are alive again. This time, my treasure-I will never let you go!"

The Agent thought fast. If any of her expedition was still alive, they could not know that she knew exactly who this man was.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?"

_**13**_

MISSION REVIEW

The superior offered up his compliment.

"Of course, you were the one who recruited Kurama-San into our organization."

The Agent nodded.

"Dad may not have always followed his own best rules, but one he made sure I took in was the thought that you never know who is listening. I was helped by the fact that Kurama was badly messed up, so even if he blurted out anything, I had some deniability. But the nearly-dead body of his daughter by birth meant he probably wouldn't have recognized Nana, who was just a few feet away at this point. Or maybe given what he told me about how close they are it was good for Nana."

The superior noted something.

"It's Nana, now?"

The Agent shrugged.

"These Maple House folk grow on you. It turns out I'm even sorta-kinda-but-not-really step-sisters with one of them. Sorry, sir. This is a long one, and I'm gonna ramble a bit."

The superior raised a hand in the air.

"This is a central, vital debriefing, and I will need all you can give, Oahu-San. Did Kurama and Lucy attack one another at this point?"

The Agent sighed.

"Worse-they argued the way only old married couples and sworn enemies ever do."

The superior fought off the urge to quip if there was a real difference between the two groups she had just brought up.

_**14**_

_*You could have saved poor Aiko, if you'd moved faster!*_

_**I'm sorry for the girl-sorry she had a lout for a father and you as a friend! Perhaps I should have kept her safe-maybe made her my secretary?**_

_*You can't put someone like that in the kind of hellhole you ran and not expect death to come calling. If it hadn't been me, it would probably have been a glass she broke and tripped on!*_

_**Typical. So much misery, but somehow none of it is your fault, is it Lucy? Did you take in the poor fools living here the same way you did poor Takada-chan? Is that why their home is in ruins?**_

_*That is low, even for you. You, who continually send lambs to the slaughter - your own children - knowing what I am. Tell me, how is tender Mariko, Kurama-and how in the hell are you holding her-wait-all three of those girls look like-did you douse me with something to mess with my mind?*_

The clone, Cynthia, reached up. With her last living effort, she touched Kurama's face and said one word.

_***Papa?***_

With this renewed loss, the brief island of coherence Lucy's presence had excited in Kurama deserted him, and he began to cry out loud. Lucy tried to pile on.

_*How does it feel, Kurama? This is my promise fulfilled. You will lose everyone-EVERYONE you care for before you yourself-*_

Despite the Agent, and despite the soldiers, and despite her precious charge, Yuka burst out of the house at that point, yelling louder than anyone could account for.

**"BE QUIEEEETTT! KOUTA-KUN IS DYING INSIDE HERE, AND YOUR NOISE IS NO HELP! HE IS BABBLING ABOUT HIS FATHER AND HIS LITTLE SISTER, AND THAT DAMNED TRAIN RIDE-AND NYU! WEREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE GOING TO GET AN AMBULANCE? IS THIS HOW YOU KEEP YOUR PROMISES?"**

The Agent saw something remarkable in Lucy's eyes towards the other girl. It seemed a mix of fear and admiration-and maybe even a small bit of affection.

_*Sorry, Yuka-chan.*_

Yuka pivoted and went straight back inside. The Agent decided that, their firepower aside, she should call for medical assistance, if they wanted living witnesses or captives.

"First things first, though."

Taking careful aim, the Agent shot Lucy's remaining horn off. She turned to the remaining men around her.

"Shackle her and take her inside-but keep her alive. Those are prime orders. Also, see if Number Seven - Nana - is up and about. Be gentle, be nice. I need her aid right now."

Kurama began to dart off, sobbing as he held the remains of Cynthia in his arms as he went. Daughter-by-heart never once glimpsed her 'Papa' and this was a complete mercy.

"So. Is Nana getting arrested too? Sent to the Big House? The Stir? The Pen? The Rock?"

The Agent breathed in.

"How many old movies have you watched?"

"All of them. Nana cannot go to school, and we get signals from an American military base, if we attach the antenna to a toaster."

The Agent tried to stay on mission.

"See that pile of copter? Nousou could be alive under there. I want you to use your power and dig him out."

The Agent had been briefed on the gentle Diclonius that never took a life and always tried to avoid fighting unless she had no choice. The compliant one.

"Screw the both of you. He was a nasty man, and I hope he's dead under there. If he's not, then I hope he dies-"

A gunshot whizzed past Nana's head, startling her into once again losing her limbs.

"OH MY GOD! NOOOOO!"

Though Kurama had left, a new figure had entered the scene, having passed Kurama as they made their way through the debris field, only to be shocked by what they took to be the sight of Nana's corpse. The Agent quickly had her gun trained on the newcomer.

"Who are you? How did you get inside this perimeter?"

The woman looked put off not at all.

"My name is Emiko Rinoshin, and I am the owner of this property. Are my nephew and daughter alright? How about the girls?"

_**15**_

REVIEW

The superior gained a small smile.

"What seemed a breach turned into the one saving grace for this sorry affair, aside from capturing Lucy."

The Agent didn't yet feel like smiling.

"Yes. Especially when you consider all we learned from her about why we possibly took on this mission."

_**16**_

Emiko seemed unimpressed by the Agent or her clicking bullet chambers.

"Go ahead and shoot me if you want. I am not leaving till I know the kids are alright, and receiving care. Particularly Kouta."

The Agent noted the intruder's priorities.

"Your nephew before your daughter?"

Emiko shrugged.

"I could tell you what a pain in the ass she can be, but the truth is, while this might be the worst trauma she's ever faced, my nephew has already faced far worse. Isn't that in any of your black-ops eyes-only folders?"

_*No*_, thought the Agent, _*because Nousou wouldn't let us do that five minutes of vital prep, trying to impress his boss with how quickly he could move.*_

"So tell me. Does your nephew's trauma justify keeping the most dangerous creature on Earth hidden for almost two years-not to mention the other one?"

Emiko looked at what she took to be Nana's limbless corpse.

"Tell me how that poor stupid girl was a threat to anything except proper diction."

Emiko openly started when 'dead' Nana suddenly rose from the ground where she laid, her detached limbs snapping back on like a repaired action figure.

"Apologies, Emiko-Sama. You really weren't supposed to see that. They're all inside, mostly safe, and they will be very happy to see you. Nana would like to be as well, but I think I'm being placed under arrest."

The Agent sighed audibly.

"My objective was always Code Name Lucy, and we got her. You've actually kept under control. If you will aid me in saving the life of someone we both roll our eyes at, I can forget any other Diclonius and be on my way."

The young girl still seemed uncertain.

"Will you get help for Nana's family-who all of you hurt?"

The Agent held up her cell phone.

"Already summoned. See? We're not the barbarians here. Now, will you help him?"

Emiko gasped openly this time as a gesture from Nana started moving pieces of a fallen helicopter around and away from the crash site.

"It would help if Nana could sense the girls that were with him. But he did something to them to prevent that. Still, Nana will try. I must go slowly, so it doesn't all fall back in on itself."

Nana pointed at Emiko, and spoke in an equally pointed tone not usually used on someone the girl respected so deeply.

"Emiko-Dono must go inside. I will not see you injured as well. This night has been long enough, and I can take no more family being hurt."

The Agent gestured with her pistol.

"You heard her. Let's get inside."

Emiko looked at the pistol.

"If anyone I love dies because you used that thing, all your training will not prevent me from shoving it down the first orifice that presents itself."

Inside, the very tough seeming woman melted as she knelt by her weeping daughter.

"Mama, they shot Kouta! They used a choke-hold on Nozomi-Chan! THEY JUST KEPT YELLING AND THREATENING TO SHOOT US!"

The Agent kept expecting a mad dash for some hidden weapons or escape route. By this point, she was almost hoping for one, as the overall cock-up kept looking worse with each minute of remove. But no such effort came.

"Yuka-chan? Nana is safe, and we are getting help for the injured. Where are Mayu and Nyu?"

The small dog, who the Agent had learned was called Wanda?-Wanta? had been keeping to the house-master's side, and now he was joined by the Human girl who lived there, named Mayu.

"I'm safe, Koba. I've been hit worse than this in my time. As for Nyu-they have her over there."

This Mayu looked to the Agent to be a bit wilier, a bit to a lot more savvy than her housemates.

"Do NOT try and run. You look like you could-and maybe even lead us on a real chase. Suggest you don't try it."

The girl just continued stroking her dog.

"The man you shot is my Papa. The woman crying over him is Mama. The girls you attacked are my sisters. I will not flee the only real home I've ever known, and the only people I have ever called family. By the way, is that a Desert Eagle? Mister Bando used to say he loved the power they delivered, but they were a - a bitch - to maintain. Did you know Mister Bando?"

The affection in her words about Bando told the Agent a lot. She wished that she could reciprocate.

"He was my overseer in training. Bastard ran my ass ragged. Determined to never once give me a break."

_*Because they wouldn't let him hug his little girl, so he decided to keep her alive instead.*_

"Yes, that sounds like Bando-Saw. Words of advice? He would have told you to check the field of battle and prepare it before taking on a firefight like this one."

The Agent went to check and make sure Emiko wasn't trying to free Lucy.

"Yeah-I was overridden."

Emiko was once again up in the Agent's face.

"Is it necessary to shackle Nyu? Her horns are gone, so even if she has odd powers like Nana's, she's now no threat to anyone. Please. I wish to see to the safety of all the children here."

The Agent fought off laughter.

"Nana? Nana is a candle-that beast there is the sun itself! Good luck seeing to her safety, by the way. She's going down-or should I say over the bay to Breakfront Island, and to the only person more dangerous than herself. Then, when we have them both together, we'll make our move."

Emiko's eyes went wide, echoing absolute terror at what she'd just heard.

"NO! You can't take her to him. For pity's sake, the man wants to become God-and he sees that girl as the key to his ascension!"

The Agent finally forgave herself for not living up to the ideal Bando placed in her mind for how an OP should go - whether he lived by that or not. Because what Emiko would say next would place this screwed-up mission into new and scary territory.

"What are you talking about? Woman, you are not helping yourself or your supposed innocent family by saying all this. Just who do you think we're delivering your precious 'Nyu' to?"

Again, there could be no prep or planning adequate to take in Emiko's next words.

"I think that you're planning to give Nyu to Minister Hideki Kakuzawa of the National Institute On Human Evolution-my not-distant-enough cousin."

_**17**_

REVIEW

The superior had read this part many times, and would read it many times again. It never once sat well.

"Agent Oahu - was our force used and sacrificed by Chief Kakuzawa to settle an internal family score? Could he or we have simply picked up Lucy at the green grocer's or fish mongers' market? Did he know where she was all along, and used Arakawa's phone call to mask his acquisition?"

The Agent gave her best response.

"Sir? It's...convoluted. Shirakawa, rest her soul, only gave me a glimpse of how messed up the old man really was. Rinoshin-San gave me the real picture."

_**18**_

"Your cousin? The old man is your family?"

Emiko nodded.

"Quiet-none of the kids know. They were all born normal, expect for one who's gone now. I have horns-just like Kakuzawa and his son. My late sister, Kouta's mother, did as well. No powers-that's all cultist bullshit. My grandmother was born without them, so they married her off to 'the lesser species' and disgraced her by giving several difficult properties - including this one - as a dowry. Nana and now Nyu are the first I've heard or seen of anyone actually having strange powers - and they're not our blood-kin."

The Agent wasn't sure what part upended her world more - the Chief's family believing they were a separate horned species or his notions of becoming a supreme being.

"Ok. Time-out badly needed."

She looked out the door at Nana's efforts.

"Number Seven? How's it going?"

Nana gave a telekinetic shove to the remaining wreckage.

"The heaviest stuff is moved away. But some of the lighter wreck is still pretty heavy, so I have to go even slower now. Nana thinks that maybe one of those girls is still alive, like the thing that blocks me from feeling them has gotten weaker. Is that good or bad?"

The Agent didn't know how to answer that. It could mean that their control mechanisms were weakening.

"Well, if it lets you find them, good I guess. Are you sure it's not Code Name Lucy you're picking up?"

Nana admirably kept to a task she did not want.

"Lucy is not a horned girl right now. Nana cannot feel her at all. Just like I could not feel her as Nyu."

When the door, or door remnant, was closed, Emiko was again acting like she was the interrogator.

"Number Seven? Code Name Lucy? Are these girls experiments? Did they escape from some scientific dungeon?"

The Agent looked ready to spit nails.

"That's right. Lucy is just one big misunderstood waif, and the red on those walls are part of a new barn-themed paint scheme!"

Emiko looked ready to spit them right back at her.

"Just who invaded whose home? The way I hear it, you and your soldiers were very fond of yelling and hitting. A great way to put everyone into a panic!"

On that point, the pushy woman had the Agent in a corner. The approach had been far less than ideal. They had control over the residents, quickly, even to Lucy before this 'Kouta' had been shot. It was possible to roll too heavy for too long.

"Let's-move on to something else. You claim to know Chief Kakuzawa. Describe him to me."

For her part, the Agent was half-expecting (maybe more than half) Rinoshin to fudge her description based on publicly known information.

"A toupee that fools maybe himself. A love of Biblical quotes with all the depth and understanding of how a spoon perceives the taste of food. He actually told me that refusing his requests was spurning my place on the Ark. A swagger that screams secret knowledge, but the way a manga ecchi schoolboy character might carry it if he peeped in the girls' locker room without being caught."

The Agent felt her world shift. Emiko was for real.

"How recently have you seen him?"

Emiko appeared more rational when recalling these events.

"I think it was before Christmas - Nyu and I were cleaning one of my rental properties - she had really matured since she lost her horns -"

The Agent resisted asking why no one thought it was odd that two horned girls made their way to the same house. But she did ask one question.

"You say she had matured? From what, exactly?"

Emiko now looked arch from being interrupted, but kept this back.

"When the kids first found her on Yuigahama Beach, she was like an infant - maybe the result of a sharp blow to the back of her head."

The Agent put that together with what was known of Lucy.

"Yeah. A long range 50-caliber blunt instrument."

"Can I finish now?"

The Agent waved her hand, and Emiko kept on.

"-okay. Kakuzawa came by, as sadly is his right, for the head of House to check on all properties in any way associated with the clan. He talked in riddles - knew things about all the kids staying here - including Nozomi, who wasn't even living here when he visited - except for Nana and Nyu. Except he kept on riddling, making me think that maybe he knew that Nyu was with us. Maybe he was just gas lighting me to trip me up, but if he did know, then it was like he felt he couldn't just seize her - like it had to be literary, for lack of a better term. Ceremonial or dramatic, quiet doesn't suit him much, every time I've ever met him."

Like, the Agent thought, a transfer of custody from a lesser member of the family, or an armed raid upon a walking WMD. Emiko added one more thing that further complicated matters. She spoke up in order to be heard over the sounds of Nana's outdoor work.

"He had this sleaze ball with him - small round glasses, dressed all in black, large hat, toothy predator's grin -"

The Agent felt sick to her stomach. Kakuzawa had managed to finagle a deal to let a degenerate relative into Kanto, but even normally compliant authorities were unrelenting in telling the big man that this monster was to stay confined to Breakfront Island. Even worse, Emiko's timeframe meant that this 'Person Unknown' was in the region well before the request was actually made. Then, it all got worse as Mayu rushed over and hugged Emiko, almost getting herself shot by one of the remaining soldiers. The Agent pulled her sidearm.

"No one else is getting shot right now, and NO MORE GOD-DAMNED CHOKEHOLDS! Most of these girls don't weigh as much as your gear. Unless Nousou comes out of there alive and uninjured, I am in charge!"

Mayu seemed oblivious to her peril, merely looking at Emiko with tears in her eyes. The Agent for her part watched Mayu's hands, to see that she wasn't handing off a weapon.

"Koba! No! Did he hurt you? If that horrible man tried to hurt you, too, I couldn't bear it. I-I can still feel him on top of me as he tried-tried to-he hurt Nana-I even hit him with the phone, but he was so strong-he almost-I felt safe here-Kouta-San and I made our peace, and then-oh GOD that poor girl in the satchel bag..."

Emiko sat Mayu down, and pulled back to a remove with the Agent.

"That girl suffered horribly in her old home. Now, was this maniac part of your crew?"

The Agent honestly felt offended, but understood that Emiko was not just being huffy.

"Whatever you think of us - of me - the answer is Hell No. Besides moral revulsion, having a short-eyes, even a leashed one, on an operation is asking for a cock-up worse than this one."

Emiko was not taking her word for it.

"Mayu-chan? Was the man you just mentioned part of the group that broke in just now?"

The oddness of the question seemed to calm Mayu down a bit.

"No. He came here before all this, a few days ago. He hurt me and Nana, but Nyu killed him. Ripped his head off and threw it at Mister Bando - before she killed him - and after she tried to kill me. Why is Nyu like this, now?"

The Agent felt a sad bit of vindication as Emiko pressed the young girl.

"Nyu tried to kill you? Mayu-chan, that doesn't make any sense. I want to believe you, but why would she do that?"

Mayu shook her head.

"I-had remembered-just like Kouta-San now seems to have his lost memories back. I remembered how Nyu had been the one that cut Nana's leg off-and I guess maybe all her limbs. She looked sad as she went to hurt me-but she was going to do it. Mister Bando - he's like the Agent here, only not as polite - saved me with his own life."

The Agent found inquiring about the big loud man was irresistible.

"Kid? You said Bando-San chased the sicko away?"

Mayu now actually seemed to smile.

"He kicked him in the head, in the mouth, in the stomach, and then he took those spiked poisoned balls he used on Bando-San and Nana-Chan and shoved it right up that monster's-ahhh-umm-he shoved it."

Mayu lost the smile and looked down.

"I adored Mister Bando, but I only got the chance to tell him as he was leaving us forever. I also lied to him - I told him that he had killed Lucy when he saved me."

It was The Agent's turn to smile.

"Good for you."

The Agent looked over and saw the small dog, Wanta, seem to nod at her, as though to confirm he, too, had witnessed these events.

"Okay. That mutt is eerie."

Emiko instructed Mayu (and Wanta followed) to go to the hospital with Nozomi. Kouta was already out and away with Yuka. Nana was still needed and might not be able to leave, the Agent's assurances aside. Emiko walked over to the Agent.

"That monster was likely a member of my own clan. Only Kouta and I knew about Mayu's past. How that girl keeps going-stop."

Emiko seemed to clear her head.

"You keep claiming that Nyu is some sort of monster. I still can't believe it, but I will no longer shout down your explanations, and cooperate as best I can."

_**19**_

REVIEW

The Superior seemed impressed by the woman in the report.

"Sometimes, a narrative can have too much exposition. In this case, it seems we had not nearly enough, till Mrs. Rinoshin emerged."

The Agent did not seem impressed with herself.

"A valuable resource to be certain, sir. But a resource I nearly blew sky-high."

_**20**_

MAPLE HOUSE

Yet the explanations would have to wait.

"Secret Agent Person! Nana thinks she found the nasty man and one of the little girls!"

Nana was as good as her word, and after the Agent obtained a combat shovel, the two worked in tandem digging away at the last crucial pieces of wreckage. The temperature burned the Agent's hands, but she waved off bandages for the moment.

"Nana sees parts floating-we've got them!"

Uncovered at last, Nousou awoke and was the picture of gratitude. Just not really.

"Number Seven is still alive? Barbara-kill that little bitch! I'm gonna get something out of this fiasco!"

Nana gestured at Barbara, who fell to her knees crying. She then gestured at Nousou, stealing his pocket candy, always kept in his shirt pocket.

"Nana is tired. Your girl has had her powers taken by me. I did not wish to do this, since they may never return. Lucy's did, but she is Lucy. Now, you should listen to the Secret Agent Person. Because Nana thinks that it is you who are useless now!"

Nana turned to Barbara, calming her by offering a piece of candy.

"Mariko-chan, is that you?"

Barbara almost seemed to react to that name, but Nousou nearly spit out a response.

"Are you really that stupid? Lucy over there killed Idiot Kurama's precious brat, months ago. Why would you think that my Barbara has any connection to that psychotic little loser?"

A hard slap came across Nousou's face, this time from Nana's physical arms.

"Mariko Kurama was my sister! Not by blood, but by way of the Papa we love, and whose shadow you are not fit to be in or near! If you say another bad word about either of them, the Agent Person will not be able to save you, and you will think Nana is the new Lucy!"

The Agent felt that Nana had played square with her, so made no threats in response.

"Please don't hurt him. I need him alive to testify against Chief Kakuzawa."

Emiko looked at Nana.

"Please, Nana-chan. He isn't worth it."

Nana went to sit down against a nearby wall.

"Emiko-Sama is surely correct on that one."

Nousou spat out at Nana as she pulled back.

"You should not live among Humans!"

Barbara's head seemed to turn at these words. For her part, the plucky lavender-haired horned girl was already looking exhausted. Nousou was about to insult her again, when a realization struck about his partner.

"Wait-testify? You-YOU'RE A FED?"

The Agent rolled her eyes.

"What are you, Tony Soprano?-no, change that. Tony eats real Italian food. If you were Italiano, you'd be all cannoli and rainbow cookies."

Nana was already half-gone.

"Does he like stuffed shells? Nana loves the stuffed shells from Kurito's."

Emiko wiped away a tear.

"So did Kanae."

The Agent ignored them, but decided to get that eatery's number. She was now hungry.

"Yes, genius-I'm a Fed. And now, so are you, the better to keep getting treated for your extensive injuries, and watched over by the FED who dug you out with her own two hands. Got me?"

Nousou now felt as helpless as he looked.

"You really can't stop his plans. No one can, now."

The Agent sighed.

"Actually, you saw to it that we can do just that. After we deliver Code Name Lucy to him-we take them both out. End of plans."

Emiko reasserted herself.

"I still haven't heard what it is Nyu has done to bring all this hell down on herself and us. I have known that girl for almost two years, and she is no walking horror show. At one time, she couldn't even bathe herself or keep bladder control."

Despite her miserable circumstance, the shackled Lucy was heard to mutter: "Boy, never gonna live that one down, am I?"

The unintended humor of her words seemed to set the Agent off.

"Nyu? Is that what you're calling yourself now?"

The beaten-down Lucy shook her head.

"My name was never Lucy. They gave me that name at the Institute. Something about some cave-woman-not even the oldest one anymore. My name is...what does it matter? I'm about to vanish, and one of the only people I've ever loved will wake up and hate me forever. I'll never even have a chance to apologize."

The Agent felt she had enough of sophistry, and just plain-old excuses. Even though Lucy, ironically, was offering up next to no excuses, she was the one that was turned on with the greatest ferocity.

"Does someone-does some_thing_ like you even know what an apology is, Code Name Lucy? If so, sweet Kami Above Us, you have a lot more than whatever's passing through that mind of yours right now to make up lists for. Some have blood on their hands. Some have buckets to empty. What do you have? Train containers? Oil tankers? Are there small oceans not big enough for all you've spilled? How's about we do a light review?"

Whatever her name really was, the shackled horned girl looked at Emiko with tears in her eyes.

"Mama, you have to go! I don't want you to hear all this. Please, let me tell her myself!"

The Agent hadn't caught on yet, but she was straying into territory her fractious father knew all too well, and it would cost her just as surely.

"At the Institute, you and Number 35 were like Death itself. I think she actually beat you out on statistics. But you always owned the night on creativity. Loose objects around you all became minor-league Shinigami. Pens through hearts, eyes, brains. Watches that ended time forever. You know that, in some quarters, they call Security Personnel Red Shirts? Never truer with you. That final escape of yours must have left twenty-three dead, and that was just the staff trained and paid to put their lives on the line. There were others. One in particular."

The shackled girl was beyond pleading, or perhaps she saw that pleas meant nothing to this one.

"You mean Kurama's secretary. I didn't go after her. She wandered into a war zone. She got in the way. I was getting out of there. One way or the other. Kurama told her she was to be sacrificed - and she thanked him!"

The Agent met her every twist and turn.

"Yeah. That's a great excuse for twisting a girl's head off, then using her body as a bullet-shield."

Emiko openly winced. Nana seemed to stir from her half-sleep.

"Her name was Rin Kisaragi. She was very nice. One day, she shared a big cookie with Nana. She said it was for Christmas. Nana had never had a cookie before that, and she didn't know what Christmas was - or who God was. Tell me, did Lucy-San hurt her, just because she worked for Papa?"

Lucy was not so strident when responding to her one-time rival.

"I don't know anymore. I didn't catch on right away that she meant anything to Kurama. I might have done it anyway. There have just been so many...so many..."

Before the Agent could chime in, Emiko again offered an increasingly half-hearted defense.

"Please. I feel for the families of those men, and of that poor girl. But a captive in a mad scientists' dungeon is going to get desperate. They'll do what they have to, in order to escape. Wouldn't you or I go places we never imagined, if caught up in that kind of hell?"

Nana provided one last interruption before conking out entirely.

"I do not know if you are Nyu-chan or Lucy-San right now. If the one, I will miss you, and if the other-one day, Nana will try and forgive all you've done. Either way, Nana will keep her promise, and watch over our home, and our family-especially Kouta-San."

The Agent almost found it tender when Lucy simply muttered 'Thank You' in response to this, but allowed it to redouble her anger.

"Maybe all could be forgiven, if it was just Number Seven here - who lost all four limbs to you. Maybe if it was just those guards who mistreated you, and there had to be a few. Maybe you didn't even mean to hurt the secretary, if we're being stupidly generous. But let's be real, Lucy. Those deaths are just the tip of the iceberg, and it is a big iceberg, above and below. What about the sudden spike in heart failure, in Kamakura, Enoshima and the wider area? Did you tell any of these people how you used those invisible hands of yours to stop blood flow, and then infect the men in the crowds that gathered with your birth virus? Families torn to pieces so you could have somewhere to stay for a few nights? Those four orphans-"

The Agent actually caught a glare from Lucy, and it was not one easily countered or dismissed. It seemed to convey a message.

"Wow? Were they that bad? A bunch of kids? Okay, I can actually see that. Try being the tallest girl in class, always. But what about that 'bomb' that went off at the summer festival? What about all those births you left to be culled, you deadbeat? Oh, our girl made it into local legend - meet the Maple Tree Whisper, Kaze No Kaede. Of course, that gave you too much attention, didn't it? You stopped that right after that train attack? Do you recall that one? Killed one little girl-snapped her right in two. Took her father's head right off. Then, you must have heard the police, because you left the son alive, soaked in his family's blood - clutching his little sister's body. Kid spent a year in the mental hospital - even got briefly accused of the murder himself-"

The Agent heard an unholy wail of pure rage. A figure pushed past her, seized her side-arm, and went for Lucy's throat.

"MURDERER! WE TOOK YOU IN! WE LOVED YOU! MADE YOU A PART OF OUR FAMILY-A FAMILY YOU DESTROYED!"

The Agent saw that her troops had withdrawn, exactly as she had ordered. The maddened enraged figure was Emiko, gun drawn and trying to shove it down Lucy's throat. The Agent saw a picture frame on the floor, and inside it, a picture of the man she shot, when he was only a boy-in the company of his father, his sister-and a little girl who had become the woman who had attended to the injured man in the present. The Agent would have taunted Emiko about situational ethics, but it did not seem like a good time.

"MAMA, PLEASE-I'M SO SORRY!"

"DO NOT DARE TO CALL ME THAT EVER AGAIN! MY DAUGHTERS ARE YUKA, AND MAYU-EVEN NANA-YOU ARE A BEAST, AND NOT FOR YOUR HORNS!"

The Agent tried to draw herself up from a heap.

"See, Daddy-I'm just like you-I have a BIIIIGGG Mouth!"

_**21**_

REVIEW

The Superior felt compelled to ask a question.

"Do you think perhaps she was trying to silence Code Name Lucy?"

The Agent felt she had the answer.

"No. She-and all of them-were legit. What she was trying to silence was her own voice, accusing her of being a damned fool. They really had fallen in love with this Nyu - whether she was real or just a lie Lucy told - and to suddenly realize that this new member of their family had destroyed their old one-well, it was just a bit much. Just not as much as stopping her was."

_**22**_

"When those sweet dumb kids first brought you here, you had this massive head wound. So tell me, was it something like this that gave it to you?"

Emiko was brandishing the gun like a pro, and actually slapping Lucy to force her mouth open. The Agent muttered something as she straightened herself.

"Actually, it was a high-powered sniper rifle. But up close and personal, that Desert Eagle could do things..."

Emiko ignored the Agent, or, just as likely, could not hear her.

"That one was for my daughter's dreams! That one was for my nephew, who became your friend and paid for it with his sanity and his childhood! That was for my sister, who died to have the daughter you cut in two like a doll! That was for a man who was like my own brother, and could have been more, given time - TIME THAT YOU TOOK AWAY!"

The Agent tried to jump Emiko, and managed to grab at the gun, and though she could not wrest it from the enraged mother, she managed to release the clip, at least reducing the danger to Lucy, as Emiko finally got the gun barrel up and into her mouth. The Agent also noted that Lucy must have truly cared for this woman, since there was no sign of her power re-igniting.

"You beast. How dare you make us love you? HOW DARE YOU?! Well, you won't survive this shot!"

The gun clicked, and clicked, perhaps about four or five times before Emiko gave up and gave out. The Agent plucked the gun from her grasp.

"You know, these things are really illegal, here in Japan? How is it you know how to use one, and fight like that?"

She would guide Emiko's mind off of Lucy, as much as she could. The Agent felt bad for being the loudmouth who triggered this event, and she also needed Emiko's information about her relatives, the Kakuzawas.

"Grandmother Aimi's insistence. She always felt the day might come that the main line of the family would come to get rid of us. So endurance runs and swims - very basic but thorough gun training - the whole nine yards. Also-how to keep those properties with basements tenable and usable in a seaside location - and No, Maple House doesn't have a basement. Was I - was I really going to kill Nyu?"

The Agent nodded.

"You were sure trying. I'd say you could wake the dead with all that noise, but some people can sleep through anything."

Emiko looked in the corner and saw Nana, sawing wood, alive, but dead to the world.

"Girl must be able to sleep through cannon fire."

The Agent sighed.

"More or less. Wish I'd known about Nousou's hate boner for Kurama. Or - at this point, almost anything, going in."

Emiko looked at Lucy, knocked cold by her attack.

"Please just take her away from here. Then, arrest me for whatever you have to - but I can't have her in my house any longer. Not after what she's done."

The Agent made a call that was beyond her pay grade, but in a mess like this, she wanted to get what little good had emerged to firm up.

"Forget arrest for you, and for your kids. They didn't know what Code Name Lucy really was, and she wasn't using this house as any sort of staging ground. Really, one of the reasons we never found her is that she basically stopped killing - except maybe for one woman who filed a missing dog report - hard to say there. You were ready to kill her yourself, once the blinders were off. We've ascertained the whereabouts of Number Seven - of Nana, and she's as crazy good-natured as always. We have Code Name Lucy, and, sad to say, a high casualty rate in any operation involving her is not a shocker. But I will need two things from you - your silence, and that is for real and for always. My section was founded to keep knowledge about Kakuzawa's activities secret. The second - hold on."

The Agent produced a cell-phone, and called a number that involved a few code-phrases and transfers. She handed it off to Emiko.

"That's the Justice Ministry. Please tell that person that you, as a member of the Kakuzawa Holdings Council, give them every last permission to rip the old man and his family several new orifices."

Emiko took the phone, and answered appropriately to bring about just such a scenario. One last question and response followed at the end, to the Agent's surprise.

"The girl's name is Mayu Hagiwara. My children are her legal guardians, or if they aren't, her own mother does not give enough of a damn for it to matter. She can testify that this person was in mainland Japan and not under supervision - continuing the activities he was incarcerated for. Yes, I will be available for direct testimony - with bells on. Thank You."

Emiko nodded.

"Apparently, that sleaze ball with the Lennon glasses was spotted, and letting him out and about was a major violation of an agreement that even someone of Kakuzawa's standing can't just shrug off. According to that official and their superior on another line, all Kakuzawa holdings in the main family line are about to be nationalized."

_**23**_

REVIEW

The superior was blunt.

"You did exceed your authority, but given the chaos you faced and the positive results you engendered, it all seems allowable. The irony was some judges were still reluctant to call the Kakuzawas to account, until we mentioned the pedophilic Caius Kakuzawa's attempt on the two girls. Breaking faith on an agreement like that is a hot button, legally. I think also some jurists and prosecutors who were in on his freedom were anxious to save their own hides."

Agent Oahu grimaced.

"Sir, I obtained information about Code Name Lucy that, while of a personal nature, may be telling in our quest to call this whole deal done with."

Whatever this information was, the superior looked annoyed that this was the first he was hearing of this.

"Why was this not included in your main report?"

She looked conflicted.

"Because it breaks a confidence to reveal it, sir."

The obvious question came.

"A confidence held for whom?"

The answer was not so obvious.

"For Lucy herself."

_**24 **_

The copter flew onward, back to the island Lucy knew all too well.

"Try-nothing."

Lucy glared at her, but it was an exasperated glare, rather than a menacing one.

"My horns are gone. We're above the waters-I have no idea how high, and you're all heavily armed in close quarters. My home is in ruins, and the closest thing I have to a family will hate me forever, with good cause. One of the only things I have ever loved will likely soon die all because I was around him, which places me at three out of three on that front. If I did try something, it would be to get you to just finally kill me. But I can't even muster up that much of a threat. I can't even get off on how messed up Kurama is, because I am no better right now. So don't play toughie on me. I have nothing to try, and I have nothing at all. Because that, apparently, is the world I wanted to create for myself."

The creature before the Agent was pathetic, broken, and sounded a bit whiny. The Agent wondered where her next action came from.

"I don't think he's going to die. I aimed for a part of his body that will hurt, and needs attention, but with no vital organs in the immediate area. But let me ask you this - you say you love him?"

Lucy did not look like she cared to be challenged on that front, but found no better way to pass the time.

"Of course I do. So does Nyu. You saw how she reacted to you shooting him - and she's the nice one of us."

The Agent sprang her verbal trap, at least in part to see if Lucy was playing possum.

"If - you two - love him so damned much, then why did you cleave his little sister in two, and tear their Dad's head off? He wasn't near any damned blast doors you needed to escape."

Lucy did not regain her powers, but nor was she forthcoming.

"Why should I tell that to anyone, let alone you?"

The Agent played her ace.

"Because unlike you, I will be able to tell Kouta. Isn't that what you want?"

Lucy's face glazed over, and she shook her head.

"I wouldn't know what to tell him. I-I had been betrayed. Someone I thought was a friend either never was or didn't know how to keep a promise-I'm still not sure, though I lean towards the little bitch knowing full well what she did and why. After this, I met Kouta. We were just kids, but he was genuine. He liked my horns. He liked me. We only spent a couple of days together, really. But they were the best days of my entire life. Then, he lied to me-told me that the cousin he was taking to a festival was a boy. It was Yuka. I was sure I'd been betrayed again. I was sure Kouta had never been my friend, after all."

The Agent wasn't buying all of it, truth or no truth.

"Still doesn't make sense. If he was the one who lied to you, betrayed you - then why not kill him, either just him, or along with his family? Did you need to see him in pain first, like with Kurama? Yeah, I know about all that."

The once and future horned girl was openly tearing up.

"It's kind of muddled. I guess I wanted to punish him - leave him with no one, like me, so we'd be even. I thought that he would have to be just my friend, then, and now he would know never to lie to me again. He held his dead sister while asking me how I could do this, if we were friends. I told him that we still were friends was the only reason he wasn't dead too. I also said that I was going to get rid of Yuka. That's when he pounced on me - pounding on me, pleading with me to stop what I was doing. I knew then."

Lucy kept on before the Agent could interrupt.

"His face, his voice - he wasn't a Human pleading with a monster - he was a friend begging someone he still saw as a friend to stop acting like a monster. So when I killed Kanae and their Papa - I killed us-forever. Because I could no longer do anything but kill when wronged."

As the copter windows showed the island below, Lucy said one last thing to her captor.

"If Kouta-if he doesn't make it, please tell Yuka. She's actually decent. So's her Mom, but she will never forgive me. Yuka will at least try. And tell the others I'm sorry-there's rot at my core, and it should never have been allowed to infect them."

The copter landed, and one of the island staff immediately shot Lucy with a tranquilizer dart. Claiming she needed to do reconnaissance at the capture site, the Agent departed as quickly as she came, hoping never to see that island again.

_**25**_

REVIEW

"But you didn't return to the Maple House site, correct?"

The Agent nodded at her superior.

"Hai, Sir. The hospital I'd left Nousou at called in an alert. Sadly, for damned good reason. I-was actually beginning to like that preening idiot. Maybe I should have forced Number Seven to give back his candy, if a sugar drop could make him that stupid."

_**26**_

From the start, she knew just what had happened. Gun already drawn, though she knew this was pointless, the Agent walked through the parking lot.

"Please tell me he didn't."

In a more or less straight line, the blacktop was cracked, and the cars in that same line all had flattened or collapsed roofs.

"Just tell me has that much in the way of brains."

Tracing back that line, the hospital building itself had what looked like a wind shear scar, cut through glass and steel like a hot knife through butter. Just beyond the hospital, trees were downed and broken like twigs.

"I swear, Nousou, if you pulled it out of her, I will stick it in you where the sun has never dreamed of shining!"

Inside, Operations hadn't been wholly disrupted, and a quick inquiry backed up by her authority told her that Kouta Kanbe and Nozomi Watanabe were still among the living. She passed the girl Mayu Hagiwara, who, while not thrilled to see her, said that Nana had gone to Yuigahama Beach to deliver some soup to a homeless man - named Kurama, and they had not heard from her since. Thanking the kid for her trouble, the Agent now mused that this meant two Diclonius were on the loose, albeit with one of them being the most civilized around.

"But the other one isn't civilized at all - and was last told to kill the civilized one - oh shit - and the uncivilized one will find her with the man they both think of as Papa...Oy-and I don't mean Aloha."

She could do nothing about that until word came (when it would be much too late) so she got to the nearly-locked down suite for wounded from the operation. One of the police officers in attendance recognized her.

"How many dead?"

One of the same detectives who had once questioned and then once urged the silence of Kouta Kanbe held up two fingers.

"A nurse who just happened to be in the way - and your pretty-boy. Found this by the bedside-anything?"

It was a small cylinder with a needle-like protrusion, and it was the reason Nousou's shoulders were now lonesome for his head.

"How the hell did he even get this out of her-his teeth?"

Almost without thinking, she helped arrange a cover story for the nurse's family - heavy equipment being moved that slipped at the worst point possible.

She then spent the next eighteen hours prepping for a Mission Review.

_**27**_

REVIEW

Her superior closed his valise.

"You got the job done, when none of us were sure the job really could be done. Unfortunately, the only reward I have for you is - return to that damned island, and scoop up any of that madman's staff you can get out before we begin the bombardment. Priority to be placed on any evidence of protective medicine, like vaccines. Kakuzawa never entered into any deal in his life without something held in reserve. Every measure, no matter how lethal or barbaric, is hereby fully authorized. These aren't kids in a household. These people knew what they were getting into, or should have. Agent Oahu, good job - and dismissed. And before you ask - permission to enter Ward C granted - just don't take too long. We may have no time left at all, let alone a margin for error."

_**28**_

Entering every last access code she had, and a few generated by her superior's laptop, Agent Oahu entered 'Ward C', where she moved right for the rear-most room.

Inside it was a man, or what was left of him. His life support was based on machines recovered from the butchered corpse of an unfortunate Diclonius, savaged by the 'The Sunglasses Man'. Trying to keep from falling apart, she grasped his shoulder - a part of him that was still organic. The figure stirred at this, and spoke/growled a name.

"Mayu? Kid, that you?"

Then, miracle of miracles, a smile developed on what was left of his face.

"Yer old man's an asshole, right, girlie? Lissen up-all this crap they got me on fails, you and her-you're like sisters, alright? And you tell Mayu what an utter dickwad I always was. No illusions. And tell her to get a real dog, not that crane-machine prize she carries around."

Elena Oahu shook her head.

"Shut up old man-I happen to like that dog."

His sedatives kicked in, and she had places to go.

"Can't believe he played me like that."

Actually, she could believe just that, because that's who Jouji Bando was, and who he had always been.

Aboard the fast, heavily-armed copter, she briefed the men under her command, their lives in her charge, who she hoped to bring back one and all, even knowing this was likely impossible.

"The Big Man is currently engaging with Code Name Lucy in a chamber far removed from easy exit or surveillance, and certainly no communication. We land, we ID who's who among the staff, by whatever means necessary, we take whatever materials this bird will hold, and we get out, hopefully before the situation gets any..."

A shockwave enveloped the copter. It was not an EMP, they all knew, because no systems were knocked out, yet it had that feel. If not thoroughly strapped in, some of them might well have been pulped or thrown out of the copter.

"The situation just got any. Drone readings?"

The feedback from the forward surveillance drones told the absolute worst.

"Agent-whatever the hell that was just opened a gap that split the island in two-and water is seeping in both sides of the foundation. Agent-San, Breakfront Island is going down, and really soon. The bastard is sinking!"

Agent Elena Oahu, daughter of Bando, ally of Kurama, would-be sister of Mayu, liker of Wanta, shooter of Kouta, disarmer of Yuka's mother, cooperator with Nana, and capturer of the fearsome Lucy had only one thought as the whirlybird tried to find a landing zone.

"Oh, Shit-here comes another long-ass Mission Review."

Hearing a shrill woman scream in the distance, Oahu departed the company of the men she now told to stay put and was, within minutes, engaged in the fight of her life.

But that is a story for another day.


End file.
